My Janelle Wedding Dress From Devotion

My Janelle Wedding Dress Review From Devotion

I wrote a post a little while ago about my wedding dress inspiration and what I said I would be looking for in my chosen gown. One of my must haves was a lace back with buttons as I think that’s extremely elegant, and another was lace front detail and a floaty silhouette. Keeping all that in mind, I think I might have just found the most perfect wedding dress I could have hoped for! This gorgeous one is custom made and fitted from Devotion and it’s the Janelle gown. Isn’t it beautiful? As it’s been fitted to my measurements during a blog collaboration with Devotion, I’m going to be reviewing my experience with them and how I found the whole process from start to finish, as well as my thoughts on the dress. But first, a bit about the company.

Devotion is a European based wedding dress and evening gowns shop that specialises in custom tailor made dresses, just like a boutique, but purely based exclusively online. The brand stresses the importance of the quality of the gowns that you receive, understanding how important a wedding day is in a girl’s life, therefore, undertaking more of an individualistic approach. This means that all of the dresses are hand sewn and made, meaning they do not hold any stock. Doing this enables Devotion to offer you a unique opportunity of ordering a dress in your own custom size, which means that the dress is sewn according to your individual measurements. They provide you a video guide for every single measurement you need and you just take those numbers down with the help of a friend or family member, to make sure they’re accurate. This custom size is completely free and included in the price of the dress, so you’re going to get the most perfect wedding gown!

Choosing The Janelle Gown

Now getting to the dress that I chose – the Janelle. I must have searched through hundreds of dresses on their website as they have such a large selection! There’s everything you could ever want in their range, including minimal and statement, different silhouettes, colours, fabrics, fits etc. so there is something for everyone. Narrowing down my selection was tough as a girl’s wedding dress is the dream dress she only wears once – it has to be perfect.

After spending about an hour going through the selection on Devotion, I came across the Janelle and my heart melted. The first thing I noticed was the elegant fit that it had with the V neckline and the draping floor length skirt. My eyes were then drawn to the lace and tulle that was beautifully positioned on the gown, and then when I clicked the back view, I saw that it was mesh and lace with a button up back, and it had a small court train. It was literally everything that I had on my check list! My decision was made within seconds. It’s elegant, sleeveless, embellished with imitation pearls, the tulle is see through below the under skirt… What more could a bride want?

Custom Measurements

As I mentioned above, I gave my measurements for this dress as requested. I wanted it to have the perfect fit, so following the video tutorial for each measurement (then checking 3-4 times to confirm), I wrote my measurements in the boxes for everything from waist to floor length, back width, waist measurement, to more complicated areas such as bust height and shoulder height. There were around 15 measurements that I gave in total and I had to have someone help me take them as I couldn’t do it myself, so definitely make sure you have a friend with you! It was fairly easy to do and the process of ordering the dress went pretty seamlessly.

The Wait, Packaging & Delivery Time

Since this dress is being fully handmade and sewn, I knew it would take quite a while to receive it. From sending the measurements over and confirming the order to receiving the dress, it took approximately 4-5 weeks. I actually thought this was quite reasonable considering the dress comes from Europe (Czech Republic) and is completely made by hand to my specifications, with so many intricate details. You might want to keep this in mind if you need a dress urgently as you would need to order it a couple of months in advance to make sure you got it on time, but for a gown that’s tailor made to me, I thought the wait time wasn’t long at all. The Janelle dress came in a beautiful Devotion box which has a magnet closure, and it also comes with one of their velvet style hangers, and a handwritten note, which I thought was a beautiful personal touch and it makes you feel like you’re getting a quality product. I can’t really fault that.

My Thoughts On The Wedding Dress

When I opened the box and I pulled my dress out, I was actually quite surprised as it looked so different to how you see it on the model. There was tulle everywhere as the skirt is really voluptuous (as you can see) and obviously, it looked a lot bigger than I thought as it’s not stretchy. Those were just my first impressions upon viewing it in real life. It’s amazing how different things look when worn though because as soon as I put the Janelle on, my mind changed. The measurements were perfect and I thought it fitted well. I wasn’t too sure about my upper arms though as I’m often conscious of them looking large, but as I’ve gone for a sleeveless gown, that’s to be expected.

The buttons are quite fiddly to do up (my mum said so), but I think that’s normal for any buttoned back gown like this. There’s wire boning in the bust and back area, so it acts like a corset and encases your bust very nicely (you don’t wear a bra). Then the underskirt is laced and very fitted as well to give you a really flattering shape while the tulle drapes over from the waist down, with a sheerness to it. I find the dress to look really romantic and fairy tale inspired, but I would say it’s quite sexy at the same time.

The lace on the shoulders is so delicate and pretty, while the extra tulle around the bust and back is really flattering too as it makes your waist appear smaller from the side, which is a bonus! The train is quite subtle though and that’s something I am grateful for as I didn’t want anything that would get in the way, so this one is just perfect. I really can’t fault it. I know some wedding dresses are really heavy to wear, but this one feels quite light already. I would say maybe there could be some extra padding under the breasts to give them lift, but that’s nothing some padded inserts couldn’t fix!

My Overall Opinion

If I were to give Devotion marks out of 10 for everything from selection, details, measurements etc right down to customer service and their friendly manner, I would give them a 10. For a company that’s based online and selling custom made wedding dresses to your own specifications (without ever seeing you in person), they nailed it. It fits beautifully and they’ve been nothing but delightful and supportive, triple checking everything is ok. As a company – I recommend them!

My overall thoughts on the dress on me were a 7/10 to begin with as it looked a lot different on me compared to the model, as we’re very different body shapes, but after wearing it for this photo shoot and seeing how beautiful it looks in the photos, especially against that Autumn backdrop, I now give it a 9/10. I don’t give it completely full marks purely because my body shape is a bit awkward and my spine is very curved, so the mesh and buttons don’t lie completely flat in the middle of my back (nobody’s fault) and I need to put in some bust inserts just to give my chest a bit more lift and support (needed when you have a larger bust) as I was adjusting a lot, but overall, I think a 9 out of 10 is really good and it’s truly magnificent! I always do try and look for a negative so I can be completely honest in my reviews, so that’s why I was being so picky just then.

Now all that’s left is setting a date and venue. But the important question – what do you think? Do you like it? Comment and tell me! Lorna xx.

Hi Lorna,
It’s such a beautiful wedding dress, and I couldn’t agree more with it looking so romantic and a fairytale like. This is something any bride-to-be would love to have for their wedding. 😊
Anyway, take care always and God bless!

Thanks, Steven! I noticed your comment here is quite short compared to usual, so if there’s something about it you didn’t like, you can definitely say! Or if it’s not really your thing and you wouldn’t knot what to comment on as it’s a wedding dress, that’s completely fine too!

I love the details around the bust, waist and back. It’s a very romantic dress and I particularly like the sheer aspects on the dress. Is it a skirt underneath? I’m glad you had a good experience as organising a wedding is stressful enough! You will be a beautiful bride Lorna! I got engaged in April so will keep this brand in mind.
Jaz xoxohttp://www.thelifeofasocialbutterfly.co.uk

Thanks, Jaz! Yeah, it’s a fitted dress underneath, so the skirt part hits above the knee as you can see, then it has tulle over the top. It’s very pretty! Congrats on your engagement too! That’s exciting!

Oh that’s such a beautiful dress and so nice that you could get it custom made for you! I spend a while looking at wedding dresses in magazines before I went shopping in the stores, and it was interesting how styles I’d loved in photos I didn’t like on me – like you said you definitely can’t underestimate what things feel like once they are on you! In the end I got super lucky – I went to a wedding dress sale, tried on over 12 dresses in all the styles I’d liked and there was one that was like ti was made for me – the absolutely perfect length! Even with the lace up detail in back it was quite big, but considering it had been ordered to fit someone similarly short and they had already paid some of it and then not the rest, I got it for under a thousand which was perfect, I was easily able to get the bodice pulled in at the tailor without breaking the thousand limit! 🙂

Hope you are having a lovely week, and you got some bargains in the sales. I ended up grabbing a little something on Cyber Monday after resisting temptation all weekend, haha!

That’s really nice that you got yours so discounted! Sounds like it was meant to be. It is funny how the styles we like in pictures don’t always suit us 😀 I actually only got a couple of GAP basics in the sale, didn’t get anything else!

Wow, what a lovely style dress. I used to design dresses and or wedding dresses I always say it’s best to do it in-person but considering you ordered it from a site I think 7/10 is quite good. I love the back details.
MadisonFASHION TALES

Wow! You look exquisite Lorna! The dress looks so ethereal and beautiful on you. It’s absolutely stunning! It was interesting to learn more about the process of taking your measurements, and the effort that goes into ensuring you get the perfect fit. The shape and silhouette of the dress are very flattering and feminine, and I love the lace detailing on the shoulders. I only hope you weren’t too cold when capturing these images. I’m very curious to know what you’ll choose to wear on the big day, and if you’ll be opting for a silhouette like this!

I was actually freezing as it had just started to rain and it was pretty cold, lol! So I was very cold! I do really love the dress though and I think this is the one I will be wearing. I just might have a faux fur shrug or something around my shoulders xx.

Oh no, I feared the conditions would have been cold. It was brave of you to carry on in order to capture the images. Hopefully you won’t have to freeze like that again, as you’ve taken enough outfit images to last you for a while. It’s great that you think this is the ideal dress for the big day. A cover-up or furry shrug would be the perfect addition to the look! Did you have to hide the dress from Adam and if you did, who took the photos? xx

Ha ha, no I didn’t hide it, he took the photos for me. I’m not really into those tradition superstition things. He actually helped me choose it as we both have input in the clothes we wear and buy on a daily basis, so I was happy to have him involved with this dress too. It would be a bit hard hiding it from him since he’s my photographer, then posting it online and banning him from my blog for years, lol! Can you even imagine the stress? I do think a shrug will be a great addition too though!

I love the dress! I have been looking everywhere to find any review of the devotion website because I am temped to buy one but too scared if it turns out completely different like from china. I am so glad i found this review it really convince me your opinion.
Congratulations on your wedding you look beautiful!!

I know exactly what you mean about the Chinese dresses, these are definitely not like that at all. You actually get the dress you chose online in your exact measurements you put in, plus their customer service is fantastic so they are there for you at any point you need them, it’s definitely good. I’d love to know what dress you’re choosing! Congratulations on your wedding too!

That is such a beautiful dress! I love how unique it is. A lot of wedding dresses tend to look the same in my opinion but this one is very distinct. I love the lace underneath the top layer of the skirt.

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UK fashion blog and lifestyle blog by Award Winning fashion blogger, Lorna Burford. I cover the latest fashion trends from around the world, showcasing my favourite outfits, designer shoes, designer bags and must have fashion accessories. Check out my about page for more about me, my lifestyle and the Raindrops of Sapphire blog.